Is There a Meaning to Forgiveness?

I understand why I forgive. I understand that unresolved anger does not remain only in the mind—it settles into the nervous system, finds a resting place in the body, and quietly disturbs our sense of peace.

Because of this, I practice forgiveness not as a reaction, but as a trait.

Something I choose to live by, again and again.

What I wonder, though, is not whether I can forgive—but whether I have been forgiven.

How do we ever know for certain?

We may apologize.

We may speak words of remorse.

We may attempt to make amends in the ways we know how.

And yet, the heart of another remains a mystery to us.

We cannot see what lingers there. We cannot measure whether forgiveness has truly taken root or whether pain still quietly breathes beneath the surface. We can do what is asked of us, but we cannot enter another’s inner world to confirm the outcome.

Only God knows what rests in the heart.

And perhaps that is the quiet humility forgiveness asks of us—that after we have done our part, we release the need to be assured. That we stop seeking certainty where none is promised. That we trust our sincerity has been witnessed, even if it is not acknowledged.

Maybe forgiveness is not something fully resolved here, in this life.

Maybe it is a question we carry with gentleness, not judgment.

Until the day we meet our Creator, perhaps all we can do is ask—and live in a way that keeps our own heart open, humble, and at rest.

In the year ahead, I vow to listen more deeply to what I feel and to live from that awareness with grace.

“So is there meaning in forgiveness? Yes—because it frees the heart even when certainty is withheld, and allows us to live at peace with what only God fully knows.”